Planeswalk This Way, Part 1

Noel deCordovaThursday, February 18, 2010

reetings, fellow Johnnies, and welcome to a results column that hopefully has been anticipated by many! I'll spare you all the folksy introductions today, and instead cut right to the juicy parts, since this article will be long enough as it is.

This is the first of two results columns for the almighty Planeswalker Contest, which I kicked off at the end of last December. I've been plugging it as much as possible since, hoping to keep you all interested while I filtered out the results, and today is finally the day we see them! (If you are new to this Contest, go ahead and click this link to read the original challenge.)

Unlike the Birthday Contest (my first contest, which was held last summer), in which I had the painful task of selecting the overall best decks out of 238 submissions, I had it far easier this time. Instead of 'grading' decks against each other, I picked the best decks for each respective planeswalker that was in existence at the time. (This restriction counted out Jace, the Mind Sculptor.)

If you recall, this Contest began with a super-flavorful email about Chandra Ablaze, and if you all don't mind me starting the results, I'd like to begin with another!

Josh Jelin writes, "Have you seen Chandra's hair? What is that? Is she in a band? I think this deck conclusively answers the question: yes." Here's his rocking deck list.

Josh gushes, "Chandra plays at the Krark-Clan Ironworks. She ends all of her concerts by either smashing all of her instruments (Shrapnel Blast) and combining it with a three-part flaming guitar solo (Lava Axe) or turning it up to 11 for some heavy metal (Darksteel Colossus). Song of Blood helps fill the graveyard for Chandra's encore performance. And of course, what hair metal concert would be complete without the final countdown (Final Fortune)?"

Obviously, the deck riffs on artifact and red instants and sorceries to create a killer set list. Use your early Myr as fodder for the Ironworks or Shrapnel Blast, or just play defense with them and Angelsong. Either ramp into an "Iron Man" (the Colossus) or unleash Chandra's Ultimate, letting loose some Lava Axes along the way.

Not all the entries were humorous in nature, though. QuickRime put a lot of time and effort into his red and black, super-flavorful Sorin Markov deck, which really hit all my criteria for a Vorthos-happy planeswalker deck. In parts of an email that is, sadly, a bit too long to quote in its entirety, QuickRime analyzed the flavor texts of Day of Judgment and Feast of Blood to debate Sorin's exact personality. Take it away, QuickRime:

Sorin Markov: Let's start with the picture. Sorin looks down out of his portrait with distinct scorn. He radiates arrogance and cruelty, but without extravagance. There are no glowing auras, no corpses scattered at his feet, no spirits crying out in anguish. Sorin is subtler than that. Looking at his abilities, which I will refer to as Sorin's First, Second, and Third, these conclusions are supported by the card's mechanics.

Sorin's First mimics Vicious Hunger. It would seem that any cards of the Drain Life school are in flavor. Sorin's Second is much more interesting. It does not exactly halve an opponents life; instead it sets it at 10. This is not a blind attack but a calculated alteration, potentially even restoring life. Obvious cards that combine well with this ability are the Zendikar vampires, but I am going to stay away from those, for reasons explained below. Instead, I have chosen something far more devious: Hidetsugu's Second Rite. This card's role is also explained in greater detail below. Sorin's Third is, amazingly, even more interesting than his second. Mindslaving represents the ultimate in dark control magic. This proves Sorin's manipulative nature, and cards like Blackmail seem to fit in well.

Damnation: Obviously a very powerful spell, this card is right down the more epic side of Sorin's character street.

Dark Ritual: A staple for black decks, this gets Sorin out early. I'm sure Sorin has no moral qualms about this kind of dark magic.

Demonic Tutor, Diabolic Tutor: It seems likely to me that Sorin had some kind of instruction from powerful dark entities. These cards find the necessary pieces in this pseudo-singleton deck.

Hidetsugu's Second Rite: Yes, it is red and references a setting-specific individual. However, this card combos extremely well with Sorin's Second and is cruel enough to fit in such a dark deck. It is also a rather intriguing coincidence that the Second Rite works so well with the planeswalker's second ability. Its not too farfetched to suggest that Sorin learned this sadistic ritual during his planar travels.

Infernal Contract, Sign in Blood: Dark mages like Sorin are always looking for more power. These cards give us just that, fueling both the control and combo aspects of this deck. The price is immaterial.

Lethal Vapors: Another way to keep down the creatures, this is a suitably devious way to win with Sorin's Third. It's simple to use; just compel your opponent to trigger the self-destruct ability a few dozen times. They pay the price for each, and the sacrificing sits on the stack. Then, take lots of turns and win through another of the combinations.

Null Profusion: This is a ridiculously powerful card engine in a mostly low-mana deck that also fits Sorin's character well. It's all about cheating life, the universe, and everything.

Pain's Reward: On its own, this is a flavor fitting card draw spell like Sign in Blood. With Quicken and Sorin's Third, it becomes the most ridiculous yet clever and sadistically beautiful way of winning in the deck.

Planeswalker's Scorn: The name of this card alone assures its inclusion. This also offers reusable creature removal.

Quicken: See Pain's Reward. Sometimes you have to add a bit of blue to be more black. This can also be potentially useful in combination with an anti-creature or discard sorcery, or even with the Second Rite.

Temporal Extortion: This seems just like the sort of spell Sorin would cast. It either gives a notable advantage through an extra turn or mimics Sorin's Second.

Nice! There were a lot of attempted Hidetsugu's Second Rites in Sorin decks (which were easily the most popular), but I felt QuickRime did the least stretching to include it in this contest. Great work!

While Sorin generated the most decklists, Elspeth generated the least. Of these happy few, Gabriel Gutierrez's creation was easily the best.

The deck is very simple, it can follow a White Weenie Strategy, but can hold its own on an advanced game. Master Warcraft is the finishing spell, allowing your army to attack unblocked and finish the games. Elspeth's abilities help your army, and her ultimate ability makes them indestructible. I just went for a more straightforward approach in deckbuilding in order to tell Elspeth's story. Hope you like my creation!

Two clever readers wrote some Vorthos-tinged poems to add to their decklist, and both were so exemplary amongst the rest of my emails that I had to include them. Here's Kelvin's poem about Ajani Vengeant:

Grief and pain poison the well of his soulVengeance, his only goal. His planeswalker spark burst into a pyroclasm A punishing fire to burns down hovels and castles. Each step he makes sends a seismic shudder And his roar is Hell's thunder. So insidious has his fury become That he prays and prays to the demigods of revenge Longing for that divine verdict, that day of judgment. The fight to the death.

Michael also mentioned that the deck's goal is to put forth an early game of recurring creatures, while eventually wreaking havoc with Nicol Bolas himself. Deliciously evil!

Two more decks and we're finished for this week. The following email was probably the best one I received for the whole contest. Mark Wischkaemper wrote me with the best father-son bonding story this side of The Road (er ... take that as you will). Mark and his father, both avid Magic players, discovered my contest and decided to challenge each other, with a unique twist: each picked the 'walker for the other. In a supreme example of family ties, they both picked Ajani Goldmane!

And here's Michael Wischkaemper's +1/+1 counter–loving version, Together We Kill:

"Goldmane looked principally for creatures which could use the strength he could add to them specially, or could add strength to others as required. Goldmane recognized that his assistance alone might not be enough, but he looked for other methods of building strength to wield the swift sword of destruction."